Iowa and Kentucky have the highest cancer rates of any location in the world.

We revised this check on Nov 8, 2026. See what changed and why ↓

The finding

What the evidence shows

Iowa is second nationally for new cancer incidence in the 2026 state report. At about 1:11:36 Means explicitly says second and identifies Kentucky as first, correcting the earlier Iowa-first statement. His additional world and all-human-history ranking remains unsupported. State and international rates cannot be ranked by mixing crude rates or different age-standardization populations, and the map comparison does not establish glyphosate as the cause.

Read the supporting source · www.grassley.senate.gov ↗

Quick answer & review status

Quick answer

Is it true that Iowa and Kentucky have the highest cancer rates of any location in the world?

Partly. The claim stretches what the evidence shows. Iowa is second nationally for new cancer incidence in the 2026 state report. At about 1:11:36 Means explicitly says second and identifies Kentucky as first, correcting the earlier Iowa-first statement. It was said on Joe Rogan Experience #2578 - Calley Means, aired Nov 6, 2026, at 34:48. We haven't independently confirmed who said it. The supporting source is grassley.senate.gov, linked below.

The context belongs here.

No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.

Attribution: Not independently confirmed in this record
Editorial context review: Not recorded; generated finding
Coverage: One selected claim from the episode

Revisions to this check

Nov 8, 2026

Previously: Iowa and Kentucky have the highest cancer rates of any location in the world. [Distorted]: Kentucky and Iowa do have some of the highest cancer rates in the United States. In 2022 CDC data Kentucky ranked first at 512 new cases per 100,000 people and Iowa was near the top at about 506, against a national rate of 442. But they do not have the highest rates in the world. On the global comparison the World Cancer Research Fund uses, Australia, New Zealand and Denmark all rank above the US as a whole, and Kentucky's rate, about 16 percent above the US average, would still sit below Australia's on that scale. This verdict would be wrong if an age-standardized comparison on the same standard population put Iowa or Kentucky above Australia.

Now: Iowa and Kentucky have the highest cancer rates of any location in the world. [Distorted]: Iowa is second nationally for new cancer incidence in the 2026 state report. At about 1:11:36 Means explicitly says second and identifies Kentucky as first, correcting the earlier Iowa-first statement. His additional world and all-human-history ranking remains unsupported. State and international rates cannot be ranked by mixing crude rates or different age-standardization populations, and the map comparison does not establish glyphosate as the cause.

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